Home Ministry Drops Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's Name From Two Hindi Awards

21/04/2015 10:58 PM IST
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Updated
15/07/2016 8:25 AM IST

PTI

JOHN MACDOUGALL via Getty Images

NEW DELHI, INDIA: (FILES) In this picture taken 19 January 1998, A young Indian boy peers out from the top of a Congress Party campaign truck featuring an enlarged photograph of Sonia Gandhi (C), framed by former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (L) and Sonia's slain husband Rajiv Gandhi (R), outside the Congress Party headquarters in New Delhi. India's oldest party, the Congress, virtually written off by political pundits and rivals, made a stunning comeback in national polls 13 May 2004, under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi with results showing the party and its allies sweeping the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its coalition partners from power. The Congress Party which was created 119 years ago, and since India's independence 57 years ago has been dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and now Sonia Gandhi. AFP PHOTO/JOHN MACDOUGALL (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

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NEW DELHI — The BJP-led NDA government has dropped the names of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi from two awards for propagating Hindi.

The two awards have been discontinued by the Home Ministry and instead launched two new schemes for doing outstanding work for promoting the progressive use of official language.

According to a Home Ministry order, the 'Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Puraskar' and 'Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Gyan-Vigyan Maulik Pustak Lekhan Puraskar', launched more than two decades ago, have given away for 'Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar' and 'Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar'.

Home Ministry officials have denied that the earlier two awards, named after two former Prime Ministers belonging to Congress party, have been changed due to political consideration by the BJP-led NDA government.

"It is purely an administrative decision to make the awards more useful," an official said.

Earlier, there were four categories of Rajbhasha awards of which two were named after the two former Prime Ministers. The four awards were merged into two now.

Under the 'Rajbhasha Gaurav Puraskar Scheme', awards will be given to any citizen of India for writing original book in Hindi on knowledge and science based subjects, to central government employees (including retired one) for writing original book in Hindi and to Central Government Employees (including retired one) for writing excellent article in Hindi.

'Rajbhasa Kirti Puraskar' will be given for outstanding work in promoting the progressive use of official language to Ministries, Departments, Public Sector Undertakings, banks and in-house Hindi magazines.